I find peppers to be polarizing. Some people love them (me) and others (my mom) don’t even want to have them in their house.I wish pests felt the same way that my mom does,
12.06.2023 - 00:55 / gardenerspath.com / Sylvia Dekker
How to Identify and Control Mealybugs PseudococcidaeOne minute you’ve got a happy, healthy succulent and the next you notice a clump of white fluff or some small, odd looking insects wedged in a crevice of your precious plant. They seem to appear from out of nowhere.
When a sudden infestation of mealybugs occurred on my mom’s houseplants, though, everyone knew where to put the blame: on the cuttings I’d brought home from my university’s tropical greenhouse.
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Slow to spread on their own, once you introduce them into your space on new plants, tools, or supplies, these pests can be notoriously hard to manage.
Luckily, there are options available to help you decrease their numbers and minimize the success of their invasion, and we’ve got it all laid out for you below!
Here’s what we’ll talk about:
What Are Mealybugs?Mealybugs are insects of the Pseudococcidae family, and there are about 275 species that inhabit the United States. They share their superfamily, Coccoidea, with soft scales.
Many of the common species are in the Pseudococcus and Planococcus genera, including Planococcus citri, the citrus or greenhouse mealybug, and Pseudococcus longispinus, the long-tailed mealybug.
Pseudococcidae species love to congregate in protected areas between plant parts, such as crevices, narrow spaces between touching fruits and leaves, on stems near the soil, and in the case of root feeding species, nestled between the roots and the soil.
These insects will feed on most ornamental species, including woody and herbaceous perennials, flowers, trees (especially citrus trees), grapes, orchids, succulents and cacti, and even some
I find peppers to be polarizing. Some people love them (me) and others (my mom) don’t even want to have them in their house.I wish pests felt the same way that my mom does,
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